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Carpenter has high praise for batterymate Molina

Carpenter has high praise for batterymate Molina

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Yadier Molina

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SAN FRANCISCO -- As if this National League Championship Series did not come preloaded with enough praise for the Cardinals' and Giants' sensational starting catchers, St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter heaped some more on Yadier Molina on Sunday.

Carpenter and Molina will be batterymates for Game 2 on Monday (7 p.m. CT on FOX). They have already paired 159 times in the regular season, and Molina has been behind the plate for all 16 of Carpenter's career postseason starts.

On Monday, they'll make it 17.

"The respect that I have for Yadi is amazing," Carpenter said. "He's an amazing player, amazing competitor. His preparation level is just as great as anyone. He watches as much video, does as much chart work, everything you can think of he goes into a game with, so I know that he's done as much research and as much work as I have, and I know what [signals] he's going to put down.

"He's so good at recognizing and knowing how to control the ballgame, you don't have to concern yourself with it. And it definitely helps the young kids, there's no question about that. I mean, do I ever shake him off? Absolutely. But not very often."